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After two defeats on the bounce, Weymouth Raiders got back to winning ways in an entertaining game between two well-matched teams. In line with their policy of encouraging youngsters to take up basketball, the Weymouth team gave debuts to two more teenagers meaning they have already used a total of nineteen different players in just four games.

The two teams have a similar look with an emphasis on youth backed up by a small number of experienced players and both were looking to play fast free-flowing basketball. After a fairly even start and the score standing at 11-9 to Weymouth, the home team went on a scoring run. In what proved to be the decisive spell of the game, Dan Campbell led the way as the Raiders posted another 11 points with Torbay managing just a single free throw to leave the score 22-10 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was a much tighter affair with neither team able to score easy points. Weymouth coach Andy Blackwood continued to make regular substitutions, which perhaps disturbed his team’s rhythm, but they shaded the second period by two points to lead 33-19 at the half way mark.

The Raiders got off to a blistering start at the start of the third quarter, with Alok Bahl leading the attacking threat. After just two minutes Weymouth had extended their lead to 42-21 and appeared to have the game under control. Further scores from Giles Heaman and debutant Gerry Legg-Saunders were matched by some effective long range shooting by Hubble for Torbay which saw the Raiders holding a comfortable 52-33 lead with one period left.

Torbay’s only chance of getting back into the game was to run a press defence to force turnovers. This they did with impressive effect at the start of the fourth quarter and, with Stewart also hitting two 3-point shots, they quickly closed the gap to just seven points at 54-47. However Weymouth rallied and a run of eight unanswered points from Bahl, Heaman and Gerrard Stanley restored the lead to fifteen points with just five minutes remaining. Desperate to stop the clock, Torbay were forced into committing fouls. However it failed to pay dividends as both Dan Campbell and Alex Fuhrmann shot 100% from the free throw line and the Raiders maintained a double digit lead to the finish.

Weymouth Giants started their SABA season with a very confident double win at Ashdown leisure centre on friday night.

The familiar central venue saw a new Giants lineup playing their fixtures back to back in the two later game slots of the evening. The first of these fixtures was against 2009/2010 league winners Dorset Storm and started out much the same as last seasons clashes. Storm took an early lead with 4pts in 2 minutes and looked like they were going to be tough opponents, but these were to be their only points of the half as the Giants defence stepped up and brought the Storm offence to a grinding halt. The Weymouth side began forcing the champions to make turnovers and with Josh Westlake and Andrew Dumbrell controlling the boards all they needed were some points on the board. Step up the monkey brothers, Max Gilmartin scored two baskets and Jerry Thompson got one of his own to send the Giants into the second quarter 2pts ahead 6 - 4.

The second quarter was when the Giants really turned up the heat with 10 unanswered points from Gilmartin. That and some solid defence which was forcing Storm to turn the ball over, was enough to take the Giants into the half time break with a comfortable 16 - 4 lead.

Just as it seemed as though Weymouth might runaway with an easy win Storm put 8 unanswered points of their own on the board. They were cutting through the Weymouth defence and hitting them on the break to bring the game back to within 4pts, leaving everything to play for in the 4th.

As the final quarter began Weymouth saw plenty of the basket. Shots from Micheal O Donnovan and Daniel Hampson came close but failed to drop into the basket. After 5 minutes of end to end basketball with no conversions Storm managed to grab a basket bringing the score to within 2pts. This left the Giants defending their lead desperately to the end of the game which they did successfully and the game ended 16 - 14 in favour of the Giants.

The Second game saw the Giants facing Dorchester Tigers. The Tigers had already defeated the Giants by 1point a week ago in a freindly match at Weymouth college. With the previous weeks game still fresh in their minds the Giants took to the court and quickly looked to take advantage of a depleted Tigers team. Two quick points from Josh Westlake in the first minute followed by a basket each from Max Gilmartin and Andre Morris gave the Giants a 6 - 0 lead at the end of the first.

Some great ball movement and 6 points from the Tigers brought them up level with Weymouth 5 minutes into the second quarter until Jerry Thompson hit back with 2 quick baskets giving the Giants the edge 10 - 6 at the end of the half.

In the third quarter some unbreakable defence from the Giants bench and a 6 - 2 scoring run took the game to a 16 - 8 scoreboard in favour of the Giants.

By the fourth quarter it was getting quite late and the night was starting to take it's toll on everyone. That wasn't going to discourage the Tigers though, they had not ran out of energy yet and battled on defending their basket well. causing the Weymouth side some problems at the other end of the floor. Unfortunately they just couldn't get the ball to drop in the basket and despite numerous close attempts only converted 2pts of a possible 10 for the quarter. The Giants began rolling on fresh players every couple of minutes which eventually got the better of the Tigers. Jerry Thompson converted the last 6pts of his impressive 16pt game quickly joined by 2pts from Micheal ( mikie ) o Donnovan and 2 from Max Gilmartin and the game ended 26 - 10 in favour of the Giants.

Coach Che Osborne said " I was very impressed with the way everybody played this evening, we lost a few good players to the U14's team at the beginning of this year but the new players that have joined the squad this season proved they can hold their own tonight along with the few we have left from last season, overall it was a great performance"

Raiders taught a hard lesson by students

Oct 25, 2010, 12:13 pm

If it had been a boxing match the referees would probably have stopped it at the end of the first quarter. In their third game of the Exeter District basketball league season Weymouth Raiders were on the ropes almost from the start.

Set up newly this season the Raiders are Weymouth’s third men’s team, and their aim is to give opportunities to inexperienced young players to play competitive basketball alongside senior players who are perhaps in the twilight of their playing careers. Consequently this match saw five players making their debuts for the Raiders against a tall, strong, fast and well drilled University team.

The early exchanges were fairly even but with the score standing at 10-6 in favour of Exeter, the university team went into a different gear scoring 18 unanswered points and leaving the young Weymouth team battered, bewildered and facing the prospect of a humiliation. Their prospects were not improved by losing debutant Chris May to an ankle injury which saw him play no further part in the game.

Weymouth coach Andy Blackwood tried to rally his troops at the end of the first quarter and, in particular, emphasised the importance of shutting down the very effective Exeter fast-break. This had some effect in a low scoring second quarter. The university zone-defence restricted Weymouth to just nine more points but some respectability was regained by the Raiders by keeping their opponents down to eleven points, thus leaving the half – time score at 39-15 to Exeter.

Mid way through the third quarter another scoring run by Exeter extended their lead to almost forty points at 57-19. However Weymouth battled on with Connor Doherty and Rob Legg looking particularly effective in defence and scores coming from Dan Campbell, Giles Heaman and Alok Bahl there were some signs that the Raiders still had some fight left in them.

Trailing 62-25 at the start of the final quarter and with the game effectively over, the Raiders had only their pride left to play for. And it was in the final quarter that they played their best basketball, both offensively and defensively. For the first time in the game they moved the ball quickly around the tight Exeter defence and started to create more scoring opportunities. However the university team were never seriously threatened, and look like serious contenders for the division title. Raiders took some small consolation from winning the fourth quarter but the 74-43 final score gave an accurate reflection of the dominance Exeter enjoyed.

Afterwards Weymouth coach Andy Blackwood said “It’s never easy to take a beating, but it’s also important to look for some positives. I thought we fought back well and never let our heads drop. After the shock of the first quarter, when it looked like we might lose by seventy or eighty points I was pleased with the way we fought back and never let our heads drop. I was also pleased with young Stephen Reece, playing his first game at just 15 years of age, who had the confidence to take a couple of scoring opportunities and wasn’t intimidated by the size and strength of our opponents.”

Weymouth Bandits had their first game of the new season against last season 2nd division rivals the Waterside Stags. Both team now newly promoted to the Solent’s top flight, competing in their fist game.

Bandits unfortunately struggled to fill a full side, due to injuries, but with only three of the usual starting five Chris Canham and Alex Fuhrman put their heads together and promoted up a couple of younger players from the 2nd team Cowboys. One lucky fellow was none other than Sam Dodge, who has proved his worth for the Cowboys and deserveda shot.

Weymouth started vary sluggish with very poor turnovers to the clearly bigger Stags line up, but to Weymouth’s credit they also hounded the New Forrest team into several of their own turnovers. The Home team soon found their score touch and scored 8 without reply. This force the Seasiders into an early timeout and subs, with the new changes inplace Weymouth started to put some points on the board, unfortunately this didn’t change the Stags scoring. The quarter finished 28 – 9.

After the break Weymouth picked themselves up and responded well to the deficit with some better shooting from the top by Fuhrman and Lawes, and some strong moves from inside by Canham and Dodge. Manley also proved his worth on the defensive boards and forced Weymouth back into the game for a brief while. Sadly Stags superior sized back line seemed to just bulldoze their way through picking up plenty of points, this always seemed to hurt Weymouth in terms of scoring, the half finished 49 – 20.

Positive from the previous quarter Bandits went out to prove they will not be walked over, and produced the best performances of the game, Manley found his shot, and made several from short range. Lawes moved the ball confidently across the top which freed up 3 point efforts from Fuhrmann, Canham and Pierce. Howlett also weighed in with someefforts of his own. This quarter proved that Weymouth could still compete, and they stayed within touching distance by the end, the quarter ended 60 – 40.

The final quarter proved to be the complete opposite to the third. A tired Weymouth kept their heads above the water for the first 5 minutes but after that Stags bigger squad took advantage of Bandits tiredness. The Game ended 97 – 50.

Chris Canham said “The Bandits showed good spirit to keep going in a game that showed one team was far superior in size, but not to take away from the ability of our players who kept going, in particular Sam Dodge, on his debut for the Bandits, who took every opportunity given to him. Who knows with that ability to keep going and a couple of ourbig men back, it may have been a completely different result.”

After gaining their first win of the season just a few days ago the Weymouth Cowboys headed to play Southampton Medics for their first away game of the season in great spirit.

After travelling for two hours and not having a proper warm up the Cowboys started of sluggish as they found themselves missing on the majority of their shot attempts in the first quarter. But luckily for them the Southampton Uni Medics also came out of the gates slow as this was their first ever competitive game and had a lack of game experience. The intense defence that was shown from Weymouth forced the Medics to commit turnovers and they seemed unsettled through out the first 10 minutes of play. Weymouth finally settled down when veterans Gerrard Stanley and Giles Heaman entered the game, the offense started to open up as Sam Dodge, Jack Speary and Dan Campbell all connected on jumpshots. At the end of the first half the teams were close with medics leading 20-19.

Weymouth kept up the intensity and pressured the Medics into committing more turnovers but the Cowboys poor shooting kept them from capitalising on these mistakes. As the time went on the momentum shifted to the Medics and the young Weymouth side didn’t deal with it well as they rushed shots and turned over the ball. The Medics gained a 7 point lead by the end of the third period and held the Cowboys to only 4points in that period. The Cowboys came out gunning in the in the 4th with made shots from Gerrard Stanley and Connor Doherty. But unfortunately due to some suspicious calls from the referees and not being able to contain Medics hot shooters in the clutch the Cowboys were unable to pull it back in the final minutes and fell to their second loss of the season 42 – 36.

Cowboys bounce back with overtime win

Oct 15, 2010, 2:56 pm

It took an extra 5 minutes for Weymouth Cowboys to find their first win of the season as they faced newly formed team the Petersfield Rockets.

From the opening tip it looked a good match up for the younger Weymouth side as they found form from Gaz Williams who converted both easy layups and rebounded well. Petersfield though older than their opponents found success in selective fouls as cowboys could not hit there free throws and slowly clawed back points. Despite this, Cowboys continued their lead until the last 3 minutes of the half as the guests rallied to hit a 3 pointer and back to back lay-ups and closed the half trailing Weymouth by only 4.

The second half would normally be seen as an opportunity for the Weymouth side to regroup and focus, instead this was not the case as Petersfield continued their momentum and with cowboys turning over the ball over and over again found themselves with a 1 point deficit. This was short lived as Jack Speary hit a 3 pointer for Weymouth to hold a 2 point lead going into the final period.

With one last quarter to prove their worth, Weymouth came out of the gate racing away with a 8 point lead led by veteran Gerrard Stanley who hit back to back jump shots joined by a strong defensive presence of Connor Doherty. With 2 minutes remaining it looked a certain victory for the home side, but this was too much to ask as again they turned over the ball and poor decision making allowed the rockets within 1 baskets. With 3 seconds left on the clock it was a shock to all in attendance that the visitors stole the ball from a poor pass from Williams, converting an off balanced shot on the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

In overtime both side were drained from the previous 4 quarters making poor decisions both ends, luckily Weymouth still had enough to score the final baskets and take their first game of the season.

Side note: Weymouth missed 13 of 26 free throws.

Coach Alex Fuhrmann, “Wow. We are extremely lucky to get this win. I’ve never seen so many turn over’s in one game, and I suppose its testament to our shooting that we came away with this win. I know it’s only the second game of the season but I think the lads need to reflect on specific moments and learn.”

In their first game of the new 2010/11 basketball season, Weymouth’s 2nd team opened up the new season with a change of venue of Weymouth College and a change of league. Previously in Exeter & district league the cowboys have opted to join their 1st team in the Solent basketball association, though in division 3.

From the start both sides looked shaky, though cowboys allowed turnovers and the ravens to comfortably keep par with them. It was only when veteran Eric Olson stepped up grabbing his team mates missed opportunities to keep Weymouth going. With an average start and trailing by 9 point lead at the half, showed signs that they could compete against already established teams but would struggle to dominate.

The Weymouth side came out much more aggressive in the second half forcing the young side to show their physical side to their advantage. As Raven’s frustration boiled over picking up multiple fouls the young Weymouth side came within 4. The Cowboy’s let the opportunity slip away and though keeping it within 5 points, they lacked the focus to continue the run allowing for a 55 – 50 final score lose.

Coach Alex Fuhrmann “loosing by 5 points shows this is the right league for us to be in, competitive and fast paced. As far as the actual result, there isn’t much to comment on as it’s the first game of the season and we know we can beat this team but just need to find our rhythm.”

It was a classic battle of youth against experience as the Weymouth Raiders travelled to the Devon Peelers for their second game of the Exeter District League season. Unfortunately it turned out to be a battle of a different kind as the Police team employed unsavoury tactics in an attempt to intimidate their younger opponents. One particularly unpleasant incident saw Connor Doherty doubled up in pain after being punched in the groin in what could be called, ironically, an “off the ball” assault.

Weymouth coach Andy Blackwood employed the unusual tactic of splitting his ten man squad into two sets of five and made a complete five-for-five substitution in the middle of each of the first 3 quarters. Strangely this didn’t seem to disrupt the Raiders’ play and, after trailing early on, by the end of the first quarter they had pulled back to within two points of the Peelers at 16-14 thanks largely to accurate 3-point shooting by Greg Kazek. For the Peelers Adam and Gareth Cooper were dominating the offense, scoring 15 of the 16 points between them.

The game was a rather bad tempered affair with players on both sides getting involved in unnecessary confrontations and at times it threatened to boil over. This was reflected in a low scoring second quarter in which the Raiders restricted the Peelers to just ten points and effective offense from Jack Speary in particular saw them end the half with a narrow 27-26 lead.

The third quarter saw more expansive offense from both teams. Again it was the Cooper brothers who led the Peelers attack but the Raiders were beginning to play a much more fluent passing game against the Peelers zone defence. Although trailing 29-31 after three minutes the Weymouth team went on a scoring run of 17 points in the next five minutes while the Peelers could only manage a single score in reply. Leading 46-33 the Raiders clearly had their more experienced opponents rattled. However experience counts for a lot, and once more the Cooper boys stepped up scoring 10 points between them in the last two minutes of the quarter to close the gap to five as the buzzer sounded with the score at 48-43 to Weymouth.

In the final quarter Coach Blackwood altered his substitution pattern as foul trouble for Doherty and injury to Sam Dodge started to take its toll. Scoring alternated early on with the Raiders maintaining a 5 point gap with six minutes remaining. The game then looked as if it might be slipping away from the Peelers as, first Adam Cooper and then his brother Gareth, picked up technical fouls for comments made to the referees. However the Raiders failed to take full advantage of the opportunity, scoring only three out of eight free throws during this spell. The Raiders offence dried up at just the wrong time as the Peelers outscored them 11-4 to take a one point advantage at 58-57 with just two minutes left on the clock. A score by Taylor for the Peelers was matched by one from George Scott for Weymouth before Adam Cooper was fouled and made two crucial free throws to give the Peelers a 3 point lead with less than a minute left. A Weymouth timeout was called to prepare for a defensive stop and then a three point attempt to tie the game. Unfortunately their plans came to nothing as Gareth Cooper made a vital shot under pressure and then rubbed salt into the wound by stealing the ball almost immediately afterwards to score a lay-up to end the game.

Speaking afterwards Andy Blackwood said “We knew it was going to be a very physical game, but it’s disappointing that the Police seemed more intent on hurting my players than playing basketball. However I’ve said to my guys that every game this season is a learning experience. We could, and should, have won this one and we need to reflect on our performance in the final quarter which spoiled what was otherwise a very impressive performance from such a young side. I also need to look at my own performance as coach. I didn’t really get the balance of the team right in the last quarter so I need to learn how to win these close games as well.”